Knowledge Brief Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO Chata Malé and Quentin Wodon March 2016 Child Marriage Series with Education Global Practice KEY MESSAGES:  Measures of child marriage are high in the Republic of Congo. The share of women ages 18- 22 who married as children is 34.0 percent, and it has decreased only slightly over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, has also declined slightly.  Child marriage is associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and higher labor force participation. These are however only correlations, not necessarily causal effects. In order to design programs and policies to reduce child Box 1: Brief and Series Primer marriage, information is needed on the trend in the How is child marriage defined? Child marriage is defined as a practice over time, where it is most prevalent in a country, marriage or union taking place before the age of 18. and what the characteristics of girls marrying early are. Why a series on child marriage? Child marriage has Measuring child marriage is needed to inform policy. significant negative impacts – not only for girls, but also for a range of development outcomes. Demonstrating these impacts Child marriage is recognized as a major development will assist governments and others to make the case for intervening to reduce the practice. issue that affects girls in many developing countries. The practice has been linked to a number of health risks, What are the topics discussed in the series? The series higher fertility, and lower education attainment, among looks at the impacts of child marriage on health, population, others. The negative impact of child marriage on a wide education, employment, agency, and violence, among other range of development outcomes explains why in many outcomes. The welfare, budget, and non-monetary costs of child countries child marriage is now prohibited by law, and marriage are estimated. Legal/institutional aspects and options why the elimination of child marriage is part of the new to reduce the practice are also discussed. Sustainable Development Goals. Yet more is needed to eliminate the practice than adopting laws. In order to What is the question asked in this brief? The question is: How widespread is the practice, not only in terms of the share of inform program and policies to reduce the practice, this girls marrying early, but also in terms of how early they marry? brief provides a basic profile of child marriage in the Republic of Congo. The brief is part of a series of How is the question answered? Measures and a profile of standardized briefs on this topic for several countries. child marriage inspired by the literature on poverty are provided. Page 1 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  A third of women in the Republic of Congo still marry employment and earnings potential for the rest of her life, early. but it will also have other negative consequences for her as well as for her children. The analysis is based on data from the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for the Republic Most studies on child marriage report the incidence of of Congo. This is the latest DHS available. Table 1 child marriage - the share of girls who marry early (before provides basic statistics on the age at first marriage for 18), sometimes also with the share of girls who marry women. Two samples are considered: women ages 18 to very early, before age 15. Such statistics are useful, but 22, which is the youngest age group that can be used to they do not capture the “depth” and “severity” of the measure child marriage in the country1, and women ages practice very well. Better measures of child marriage can 18-49 (the women’s questionnaire in the DHS collects be adopted from the poverty literature (Ngyuen and data for women up to age 49). Clearly, a large share of Wodon (2012). Three measures are used here: the women marry below the age of 18, and many do so incidence of child marriage or headcount index, the child before the age of 15, but there are differences in the marriage gap, and the squared child marriage gap. likelihood of marrying as children between the two groups. Definitions of these measures is provided in the annex. This suggests that child marriage may have decreased The measures are estimated for child marriage as well as over time, but only slightly as discussed below. very early marriage defined as marrying before age 15. Table 1: Age at First Marriage for Women (%) The child marriage gap represents the “depth” of child 18-22 years 18-49 years marriage. It takes into account not only the share of girls Not Married 45.7 17.2 who marry early, but also the mean number of years of 18 or Above 20.3 48.4 early marriage. When using the child marriage gap for the Below 12 0.5 0.6 evaluation of programs or policies, instead of simply 12 1.2 1.3 looking at the share of the girls who marry early, more 13 1.8 2.6 14 3.6 4.5 weight is placed on the girls who marry at a very young 15 8.6 7.4 age. While the child marriage gap takes into account the 16 9.2 8.5 average number of years of early marriage for girls who 17 9.2 9.6 marry early, the squared gap takes into account the Total 100 100 square of that number, thereby putting even more Mean age at first marriage 16.7 19.0 emphasis on girls who marry very early and taking into Source: Authors’ estimation. account inequality in the age of marriage among girls marrying early. The consequences of child marriage are not the same whether girls marry at 12 or 17. Measures inspired from The incidence of child marriage in the Republic of Congo the poverty literature help in capturing better how early in 2011 was slightly lower than that observed 25 years girls marry (see the annex). The headcount (H) measures ago. There has been a reduction in how early girls marry, the share of girls who marry early. The child marriage gap but the incidence is still high. (CMG) measures the “depth” of the practice, taking into account how early girls marry. The squared gap (SG) puts Child marriage has been reduced over time. even more weight on the girls who marry very early. Table 2 provides trends over time in the measures of child Beyond the share of girls who marry early, other marriage inspired by the poverty literature. Consider first measures of child marriage are also important. the age group 18-22. In that age group more than a third of girls marry before the age of 18 (34.0 percent for the The negative impact of child marriage for a girl’s health, 18-22 age group). The child marriage gap (CMG) is at 4.8 education, and well-being is often larger when the girl percent and the squared gap (SG) at 0.9 percent for that marries very early. For example, child marriage is known group. By estimating the same measures on older groups, to have a negative impact on school enrollment and the table provides the trend in child marriage over time. attainment. The earlier a girl marries, the more likely it is When considering the 18 years threshold, there has been that she will drop out early and thereby have a low level of a decrease in the headcount, at least comparing the education attainment. This will not only limit her youngest and oldest age groups. The decrease is more pronounced (in proportional terms) for other measures 1 suggesting that girls tend to marry less early when they Child marriage measures must be estimated on the population older than 18, because some younger girls not yet married in the marry as child. Nevertheless, the incidence remains high. survey could still get married by age 18. It is best to measure child marriage as early as possible after the age of 18 to provide The fact that girls who marry early may marry less early is data on conditions as current as possible, which is why the age confirmed by the measures based on the 15 years age bracket 18-22 is used here. Page 2 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  threshold which suggest a decline in the headcount for Household welfare is measured through a wealth index those measures. Still, overall, the share of girls marrying with households categorized in five quintiles from poorest as children has decreased by only six percentage points to richest. For most women the level of wealth observed is over the last 25 years (the approximate time gap between that of the household in which they married, not their the first and last age group), and the decline for extreme household or origin, but it is likely that many women marry child marriage (15 years threshold) is five points2. with men who have similar socio-economic profiles, so the quintile after marriage may not be that different from the Table 2: Trend in Child and Very Early Marriage (%) quintile before. Also, for younger women, assets and 18 years 15 years wealth may be lower than for older women. In the H CMG SG H CMG SG Republic of Congo, the measures of child marriage differ All 18-49 years 34.4 5.1 1.0 9.0 1.1 0.2 between by quintiles, but it is only in the top quintiles of Age group wealth that child marriage is much less prevalent. 18-22 years 34.0 4.8 0.9 7.0 0.8 0.1 23-30 years 33.2 4.7 0.9 7.0 0.8 0.1 Table 4: Child Marriage by Quintile, Age 18-22 (%) 31-40 years 33.2 5.2 1.1 11.1 1.3 0.2 41-49 years 39.6 6.1 1.3 11.9 1.5 0.2 18 years 15 years Source: Authors’ estimation. H CMG SG H CMG SG All 18-22 years 34.0 4.8 0.9 7.0 0.8 0.1 Wealth quintiles Girls are more likely to marry early if they live in rural Poorest 46.7 7.0 1.4 13.0 1.7 0.3 areas and are from poorer socio-economic groups. Poorer 44.6 6.5 1.2 9.5 1.1 0.2 Middle 37.8 5.5 1.1 7.8 1.1 0.2 Child marriage is more prevalent in rural than in urban Richer 27.2 3.8 0.6 5.0 0.4 - areas. There are also differences between regions, with Richest 19.8 2.3 0.3 2.2 0.2 - the lowest measures observed in Lekoumou and the Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. highest measures observed (according to the headcount index for the 18 years threshold) in Pool, followed by Child marriage is associated with lower education Plataux and Kouilou, then, by Cuvette, Niari and Likouala. attainment and a lower likelihood of literacy. Child marriage is less prevalent in Brazzaville. The ranking of the regions in terms of the measures obtained Table 5 provides data on child marriage by level of with the 15 and 18 years thresholds tends to be very education of the women, as well as literacy. Child similar. marriage affects education attainment negatively, because girls often drop out of school when they marry. Rural girls are much more likely to marry early than urban The causality goes the other way as well, as the ability to girls. Girls from the bottom four quintiles of wealth are pursue one’s education may help delay the age at much more likely to marry than girls from the top quintile. marriage. This relationship between education and child marriage is apparent in the data, in that the measures of child marriage tend to be higher among women with lower Table 3: Child Marriage by Location, Age 18-22 (%) levels of education. The same relationship is observed 18 years 15 years when considering literacy where three categories are H CMG SG H CMG SG considered: the woman cannot read at all, can read part All 18-49 years 34.4 5.1 1.0 9.0 1.1 0.2 of a sentence, or can read a full sentence. Region Kouilou 43.9 5.5 0.9 6.8 0.8 0.1 Niari 41.2 6.0 1.1 11.8 1.1 0.1 The relationship between child marriage and schooling is Lekoumou 27.4 3.1 0.4 2.5 0.2 - important for policy as the causality goes both ways. Child Bouenza 30.9 4.1 0.7 4.3 0.5 0.1 marriage may lead to dropouts and lower education Pool 54.7 9.1 2.0 19.3 2.5 0.4 attainment. But the reverse is true as well: keeping girls in Plateaux 46.1 7.8 1.7 15.7 2.1 0.4 school is often one of the best ways to delay marriage. Cuvette 43.7 6.7 1.4 13.6 1.6 0.3 Cuvette-Ouest 34.9 4.4 0.9 5.2 1.0 0.2 Sangha 35.4 5.0 1.0 7.4 1.0 0.2 Marrying between the ages of 15 and 17 tends to affect Likouala 41.0 6.4 1.4 13.5 1.7 0.3 primarily secondary education enrollment or completion, Brazzaville 29.6 4.6 0.9 6.7 0.9 0.2 and may not necessarily affect the completion of primary Pointe-Noire 32.4 3.8 0.6 3.1 0.2 - education. But marrying even earlier can also prevent Residence girls from completing their primary education (primary Urban 30.6 4.2 0.8 5.3 0.6 0.1 Rural 43.3 6.5 1.3 11.5 1.4 0.2 school takes in principle six years to complete, but some Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. students start primary school late and may also repeat grades, so the actual age of completion may be delayed). 2 These measures have standard errors (not shown to save space). Some differences may not be statistically significant. Page 3 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  Table 5: Child Marriage by Education Level and as children is 34.0 percent and it has decreased slightly Literacy Status, Age 18-22 (%) over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before 18 years 15 years the age of 15, has also declined. Child marriage is H CMG SG H CMG SG associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and All 18-22 years 34.0 4.8 0.9 7.0 0.8 0.1 higher labor force participation. These are however only Education correlations, not necessarily causal effects. Other briefs in No education 58.9 9.0 2.0 10.1 2.1 0.5 this series look at potential causal effects. Primary, some 46.2 6.4 1.2 8.7 1.2 0.2 Primary, compl. 52.7 7.9 1.4 12.4 1.2 0.1 References Secondary, some 31.4 4.5 0.8 6.8 0.8 0.1 Secondary, compl. 12.3 1.2 0.1 - - - Foster, J., J. Greer, and E. Thorbecke, 1984, A Class of Higher 2.0 0.2 - - - - Decomposable Poverty Measures, Econometrica 52: 761–776. Literacy Cannot read 49.9 7.4 1.5 10.0 1.6 0.3 Nguyen, M. C., and Q. Wodon, 2012, Measuring Child Marriage, Limited ability 46.4 6.7 1.2 12.6 1.2 0.1 Economics Bulletin 32(1): 398-411. Full sentence 29.1 4.1 0.7 5.9 0.7 0.1 No card available 92.2 10.2 1.3 - - - Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. Annex: Methodological Note The headcount index, child marriage gap, and squared child Relationships between child marriage and labor force marriage gap are the first three measures of the so-called FGT participation can be complex and depend on context. class (Foster et al., 2014). Denote by q the number of girls who marry early and by n the number of girls in the overall Table 6 provides data on labor force participation. In population. Denote by yi the age of marriage of girl i and by z some countries child marriage may reduce labor force the age threshold defining child marriage (18 years of age, but a participation through higher fertility. In others, if child lower age threshold can also be used to measure extreme child marriage is associated with poverty, women may leave marriage). The general formula for the FGT class of measures little choice but to work. Other effects could be at work, so depends on a parameter α which takes a value of zero for the that the relationship between child marriage and labor headcount, one for the child marriage gap, and two for the squared child marriage gap in the following expression: force participation is complex. In the Republic of Congo,  1 q  z  yi  P    child marriage measures are lower for women not working, suggesting a positive association between child n i1  z   marriage and work. In addition, the type of work associated most with child marriage is work without cash earnings, which may be work with low productivity. These This brief was produced as part of the Economic Impacts of Child basic statistics however do not imply causality. Marriage study, a joint project of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Table 6: Child Marriage by Labor Force Participation Foundation (CIFF). More details on the research can be found at the Status, Age 18-22 (%) project’s website: www.costsofchildmarriage.org. Partial funding for the 18 years 15 years work related to child marriage and education, labor force participation, earnings, and program responses has been provided by the Global H CMG SG H CMG SG Partnership for Education. Comments from Jeff Edmeades and All 18-22 years 34.0 4.8 0.9 7.0 0.8 0.1 Margareta Norris Harrit are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions Working expressed in this brief are those of the authors only and need not reflect No 23.0 3.1 0.5 3.0 0.4 0.1 the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, of the countries Yes 45.4 6.7 1.3 11.1 1.3 0.2 they represent. Type of work Not paid 39.6 4.9 0.8 7.4 0.6 0.1 Cash only 46.3 6.9 1.3 11.2 1.3 0.2 Cash and in-kind 48.3 7.9 1.7 16.0 2.2 0.4 In-kind only 51.6 9.2 2.2 20.0 3.0 0.6 Source: Authors’ estimation. Conclusion This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in the Republic of Congo. Measures of child marriage are very high. The share of women ages 18-22 who married The Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge Briefs of the World Bank are a quick reference on the essentials of specific HNP-related topics summarizing new findings and information. These may highlight an issue and key interventions proven to be effective in improving health, or disseminate new findings and lessons learned from the regions. For more information on this topic, go to: www.worldbank.org/health. Page 4